Refrigerating apparatus



Nov. 9, 1965 K. K. KEsLlNG REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 29, 1964 Lr 2 INVENTOR.

Kalf/7 K Kes/mg Fig.

His A/fomey Nov. 9, 1965 Filed July 29,

K. K. KEsLlNG 3,216,217

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 i@ es 6g I NVENTOR. Keir/1 K. Kes/mg His Attorney Nov. 9, 1965 K. K. KESLING 3,216,217

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed July 29, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 BY v His Af/orney United States Patent C) 3,216,217 REFREGERATENG APPARATUS Keith K. Kesling, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed .lilly 29, 1964, Ser. No. 385,905 6 Claims. (Cl. 62-289) This invention pertains to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to refrigerators having separate storage compartments for the frost-free storage of frozen and unfrozen foods.

Refrigerators in which frost does not collect on the food in the freezing compartment have become popular despite the added cost which resulted from difliculties and complications in construction and assembly. It has been oonsidered that many more refrigerators of this type could be sold if this feature were available in smaller models and at lower prices.

It is an object of this invention to provide a frost-free refrigerator in which the entire refrigerating system including the controls is manufactured and assembled into a complete structurally self-contained unit separate from the refrigerator cabinet prior to its assembly with the cabinet.

It is an object of this invention to provide a frost-free refrigerator having a cabinet providing an upper below freezing compartment and a lower above-freezing compartment in which the upper compartment has a removable wall section provided with an air cooling and circulating means for both compartments which is structurally connected by the condenser to a motor compressor unit located beneath the lower compartment.

These and other objects are attained in the form shown in the drawings in which the refrigerator cabinet is provided With a removable upright rear wall section behind the false rear wall provided in the upper below-freezing compartment. This removable wall section has fixed to it an evaporator, a motor driven fan and ducting arrangement cooperating with the false rear wall for conducting air from both compartments through the evaporator to the blower and back to both the compartments. The removable wall section is connected by a part of the condenser structure extending down the back wall of the cabinet to a sealed motor compressor unit and super-heat coil which are located beneath the bottom wall of the lower above-freezing compartment. Air from the top of the above-freezing compartment and from the bottom of the below-freezing compartment is conducted beneath a false bottom wall in the below-freezing compartment to the evaporator in the rear wall through which the air is drawn by the centrifugal fan and discharged through apertures in the top of the false rear wall around ice trays on a suitably located shelf back into the below-freezing compartment. The fan is provided with a second much more narrow outlet which discharges into the top of the abovefreezing storage compartment.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a front view of a refrigerator embodying my invention with the doors open;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. l; and

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the refrigerating system partially removed from the cabinet.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown an insulated refrigerator cabinet 20 having an upper Mice below-freezing storage compartment 22 and a lower abovefreezing refrigeration storage compartment 24 which are separated by the horizontal insulated wall 26. These compartments are individually closed by separate insulated front doors 27 and 28 shown' in the open position in FIG. 1. I have found that in the frost-free type of refrigerators now being manufactured and sold, that the assembly cost is very high, making the refrigerators unduly expensive. To simplify the manufacturing and assembly of my refrigerator, I provide the rear wall 32 with a removable section 34 of foamed plastic insulating material extending substantially to the top wall 36 and extending beneath the horizontal wall 26 so that it partially overlaps the abovefreezing storage compartment 24.

Fastened to this wall is a tube and n type refrigerant evaporator 38 having transverse fins in the form of an acute rhomboid so as to provide long entrance edges on the fins and so that air flow through the evaporator is well distributed. The evaporator 38 is located in an evaporator chamber having an entrance compartment 40 beneath and a discharge compartment 42 above within an outlet shroud 43. The evaporator 38 and the compartments 40 and 42 are located behind the false rear upright finish wall 44 of the below-freezing compartment 22. The below-freezing compartment 22 also has a false bottom wall 46 beneath which is an air passage 48 above the horizontal insulated wall 26. The horizontal insulated wall 26 has adjacent the front corners a plurality of upwardly extending air passages 50 communicating with the front of the passage 48. The false bottom wall 46 is provided with the =louvers or entrance openings 52 at the front through which air is drawn from the below-freezing compartment'into the passage 48. At the rear,the passage 48 communicates directly with the entrance compartment 40 beneath the evaporator 38. The removable wall section 34 also supports the fan motor 54 which drives the centrifugal fan 56 which is located in the fan housing 58 fixed to the removable Wall section 34 above the evaporator 38. The dual outlet housing 58 discharges upwardly through an upper outlet into a space 60 behind the discharge openings 62 in the false rear wall 44 of the below-freezing compartment 22. At one side of the compartment 22 in alignment with the openings 62 are provided two ice trays 64 which are mounted on a small shelf 66 in the path of the air discharge from the openings 62, as indicated in FIG. 2.

The dual outlet fan housing 58 is provided with a downwardly directed discharge duct 68'having an outlet 70 diS- charging air downwardly at the back of the above-freezing compartment 24 above the meat storage container 72 which is supported on the shelf 74. The compartment 24 is also provided with additional shelves 76 beneath which there is provided a removable fresh food drawer 78. The air discharged from the opening 70 is suliiciently restricted in amount to keep the compartment 24 at above-freezing temperatures while the air discharged through the openings 62 into the below-freezing compartment 22 is Sulliciently low in temperature and great in volume to keep that compartment at below-freezing temperatures. As is better shown in FIG. 3, the removable wall section 34 is structurally connected to the condenser which operatively connects the evaporator 38 with the sealed motor compressor unit 77 which with its support 79 normally located in the machinery compartmenty 80 beneath the bottom insulated wall'82. The sealed motor compressor unit 77 also has connected to it a super-heat removal coil 84 which is normally located beneath the drain pan 86 in the machinery compartment. The drain pan 86 is normally located beneath the end `of the forwardly extending portion 89 of the drain tube 88 within the machinery compartment 80. This drain tube 88 is connected to and extends from the removable rear wall section 34 beneath the 3 evaporator 38 downwardly behind the rear wall 32 within the condenser structure.

The evaporator 3S may be defrosted automatically from time to time through suitable control means mounted on the removable unit including the removable Wall section 34, the condenser 75 and the sealed unit '77. This defrosting will cause melted frost to be collected by the rear portion of the horizontal wall 2.6 and to drain therefrom through the drain tube 88 into the drain pan 86. The drain pan 86 will be heated suiciently by the superheat removal coil 84 to evaporate the frost water from it.

The removable unit in this construction includes all the parts of the refrigerating system and its controls as well as the drain tube so that this may be manufactured and assembled separately without any inconvenience from the cabinet. The false rear wall 44, the false bottom Wall 46 and the ice tray shelf 66 are structurally a part of the cabinet as illustrated in FIG. 3. The removable wall 34 is constructed largely of plastic foam material which serves both as a structural material with suitable strengthening inserts for supporting both the fan motor 54 and the evaporator 38. The removable wall section 34 is provided with beveled peripheral surfaces 90 which are adapted to t similar beveled wall surfaces 92 surrounding the opening 94 behind the false rear Wall 44 of the below-freezing compartment 22. The top wall 36 as Well as the side walls of the below-freezing compartment Z2 and the doors 27 and 28 are preferably likewise insulated with high eiciency, plastic foam insulation to minimize the heat leak into the below-freezing compartment 22. The remaining walls may be insulated with the less expensive glass iber insulation which is adequate for the higher refrigeratmg temperatures maintained in the above-freezing compartment 24.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having adjoining irst and second compartments provided with an insulated separating wall between said compartments, said iirst compartment being provided with linish wall means embodying an upright linish Wall iiXed as a normal structural part of the cabinet, a removable insulated upright wall section adjacent said finish wall, air cooling means and fan means mounted on said removable insulated upright wall section, said removable wall section having means cooperating with said finish wall means for conducting air from said irst and second compartments to said fan means and for conducting the air back to said compartments, said air cooling means being located in heat transfer relation with at least some of said air.

2. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having a back Wall and adjoining iirst and second compartments provided With an insulated separating wall between said compartments, said cabinet adjacent said first compartment being provided with an upright removable Wall section, said wall section being provided with means comprising a cooling zone and means for circulating air from -said rst and second compartments to said cooling zone and back to said iirst and second compartments, said removable section also comprising cooling means for cooling at least some of said circulating air and removing moisture from the air, conduit means having its upper portion connected to said upper removable wall section eX- tending downwardly outside said compartments and said back wall for collecting and conveying said moisture.

3. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having a back wall and adjoining iirst and second compartments provided with an insulated separating wall between said compartments, sa-id cabinet adjacent said first compartment being provided with an upright removable wall section, said wall section being provided with means comprising a cooling zone and means for circulating air from said first and second compartments to said cooling zone and back to said iirst and second compartments said removable section also comprising cooling means for cooling at least some of said circulating air and removing moisture from the air, a motor compressor unit removably mounted beneath said first and second compartments, means comprising a condenser structurally connected to said removable wall section and operatively connecting said motor compressor unit and said air cooling means, and conduit means having its upper portion connected to said upper removable wall section extending downwardly outside said back wall alongside said condenser and thence laterally adjacent said motor compressor unit for collecting and conveying said moisture.

4. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having an insulated compartment, a generally upright inish wall at the back of said compartment fixed as a normal structural part of the cabinet, said cabinet adjacent said upright finish wall being provided with an upright removable insulated wall section, air cooling means and fan means mounted on said removable Wall section, said upright finish wall having a forward extension forming a false bottom wall for said compartment cooperating with said air cooling means and said fan means for conducting air from said compartment to said fan means.

5. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having an insulated compartment, a generally upright iinish wall at the back of said compartment fixed as a normal structural part of the cabinet, said cabinet adjacent said upright iinish Wall being provided with an upright removable wall section, said upright finish wall being provided with discharge and inlet openings, air cooling means and fan means mounted on said removable wall section and hav ing means for drawing air through said inlet openings and discharging air through said discharge openings, said cabinet having means in said compartment for supporting an ice tray substantially in alignment with and in front of one of said discharge openings, and means associated with said tray for directing air ow discharge from said fan means through said one discharge opening directly over said ice tray.

6. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having adjoining iirst and second compartments provided with an insulated `separating wall between said compartments, a generally upright finish Wall at the back of said first compartment fixed as a normal structural part of the cabinet, said cabinet adjacent said upright iinish wall being provided with an upright removable Wall section, said removable wall section being provided with means cooperating with said upright finish wall to form a cooling zone, means for circulating air from said irst and second compartments to `said cooling zone and back to first and second compartments, said removable section also comprising cooling means for cooling at least some of said circulating air, a motor compressor unit removably mounted beneath iirst and second compartments, and means comprising a condenser structurally connected to said removable wall section and operably connecting said motor compressor unit and said air cooling means and constructed for removal with said removable wall section and said motor compressor unit.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,279,272 4/ 42 Anderson 62`448 2,387,622 10/ 45 Tanner 62-450 2,779,168 1/57 Jacobs 62-448 3,005,321 10/61 Devery 62-450 3,034,313 5/62 Janos 62-419 3,081,608 3/63 Buchanan 62-419 3,111,817 11/63 Solley 62-419 WILLTAM I. WYE, Primary Examiner. 

3. A REFRIGERATOR INCLUDING AN INSULATED CABINET HAVING A BACK WALL AND ADJOINING FIRST AND SECOND COMPARTMENTS PROVIDED WITH AN INSULATED SEPARATING WALL BETWEEN SAID COMPARTMENTS, SAID CABINET ADJACENT SAID FIRST COMPARTMENT BEING PROVIDED WITH AN UPRIGHT REMOVABLE WALL SECTION, SAID WALL SECTION BEING PROVIDED WITH MEANS COMPRISING A COOLING ZONE AND MEANS FOR CIRCULATING AIR FROM SAID FIRST AND SECOND COMPARTMENTS TO SAID COOLING ZONE AND BACK TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND COMPARTMENTS SAID REMOVABLE SECTION ALSO COMPRISING COOLING MEANS FOR COOLING AT LEAST SOME OF SAID CIRCULATING AIR AND REMOVING MOISTURE FROM THE AIR, A MOTOR COMPRESSOR UNIT REMOVABLY MOUNTED BENEATH SAID FIRST AND SECOND COMPARTMENTS, MEANS COMPRISING A CONDENSER STRUCTURALLY CONNECTED TO SAID REMOVABLE WALL SECTION AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTING SAID MOTOR COMPRESSOR UNIT AND SAID AIR COOLING MEANS, AND CONDUIT MEANS HAVING ITS UPPER PORTION CONNECTED TO SAID UPPER REMOVABLE WALL SECTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY OUTSIDE SAID BACK WALL ALONGSIDE SAID CONDENSER AND THENCE LATERALLY ADJACENT SAID MOTOR COMPRESSOR UNIT FOR COLLECTING AND CONVEYING SAID MOISTURE. 